[suggestion] If you're capturing with VirtualDub, aren't you playing this on a VCR? What frame size does your VCR output when playing? If it's 640x480 (4:3 standard definition), capture in VirtualDub to AVI 640x480. Later your encoder should generate the correct DVD frame (for 4:3, I'd use 704x480 for DVD).

how can i know what resolution my vcr outputs ??

virtualdub > capture mode > with null transform ??

won't 640X480 just scales the input so it will fit in

i read somewhere that vcr can output close to 704X488 or something like that ,
but SD capture card won't go pass 480

[suggestion] If you're capturing with VirtualDub, aren't you playing this on a VCR? What frame size does your VCR output when playing? If it's 640x480 (4:3 standard definition), capture in VirtualDub to AVI 640x480. Later your encoder should generate the correct DVD frame (for 4:3, I'd use 704x480 for DVD).

Analog signals are a continuous wave form that you can capture with as few or as many samples as you want. Analog NTSC has 480 discreet scan lines but along the horizontal axis it can be captured as any number of pixels. The bandwidth of VHS limits the resolution of the picture to about 360 pixels in the horizontal dimension.

i've included the script i think it's a very good script for 2nd or even 3rd generation VHS

QUESTION

the files looks better on TV with a dvd player ..

what would be a good media player for previewing captured material intended for TV viewing

I once read about mediapleyer classic home cinema and powerdvd being closer (or truer) for TV emulation

are they settings inside MPC-HC or maybe even ffdshow
so they won't change or enhance viewing and stay true to the file ?

I wouldn't necessarily use that script filters or identical values for everything. All these suggestions people are making are meant to be a starting point for a specific source. You should learn what the filters do and customize them for each source. For example, in this sample, you might have used different values or filters - there are areas that are blown out (have a look at the details on logos on the ice - or maybe you're that ashamed of the Habs ). It probably didn't have the exact same characteristics as the other video, so there is no reason to blindly apply the same filters or values. If things look posterized to you , there is a good chance things were overprocessed

and this was a segment from the same capture , i won't live old enough to filter each scene differently ( i maybe have 500h of tapes) so i try to filter for each capture when i get some very precious tapes i'll take more time into it

Well on ice exposure is definitely going to be different lighting setup than inside a studio .

It's not that difficult to filter in segments; you can use Trim() to divide up sections . Presumably it doesn't go back & forth that often

I would argue getting the levels correct is probably the most important thing to do - you can do it either in hardware or software

A good filter to start learning about basic levels is histogram() . You make adjustments with smoothlevels, then preview using f5 in avspmod. Your goal is to put everything within the brown lines, that corresponds to Y= 16-235 , which is "legal range" . Data outside that range won't be visulized on your TV. For example, like the logos the on the ice

You can try some "auto" filters as well, like autolevels() , but they tend not to work as well as manual adjustments

MediaInfo says 9800. GSpot says 9830 avg. A quick calculation based on file size gives about 9800 (27,000 kbytes * 8 / 22 sec). I usually find Bitrate Viewer to be most accurate but something about this file has it confused. For some reason it thinks the frame rate is 59.94 fps, and hence shows the running time is only 11 seconds.

the capture was 20M (the first one) I redid it with huffy but once converted to mpeg i did a variable 9500/9800 bitrate
if you add the audio it's even more was 224 audio i think
isn't the max bitrate 10080 video+ audio total ? (9800 being the max for video)
looking at your graph i may have pushed it a little too much

i've included the script i think it's a very good script for 2nd or even 3rd generation VHS

QUESTION

the files looks better on TV with a dvd player ..

what would be a good media player for previewing captured material intended for TV viewing

I once read about mediapleyer classic home cinema and powerdvd being closer (or truer) for TV emulation

are they settings inside MPC-HC or maybe even ffdshow
so they won't change or enhance viewing and stay true to the file ?

I wouldn't necessarily use that script filters or identical values for everything. All these suggestions people are making are meant to be a starting point for a specific source. You should learn what the filters do and customize them for each source. For example, in this sample, you might have used different values or filters - there are areas that are blown out (have a look at the details on logos on the ice - or maybe you're that ashamed of the Habs ). It probably didn't have the exact same characteristics as the other video, so there is no reason to blindly apply the same filters or values. If things look posterized to you , there is a good chance things were overprocessed

for a newbie for me it's really hard to tell which parameters i have to tweak maybe the RemoveDirtMC(50,false) tone the 50 down of the LSFMod less sharpening (or both?)
so for me i think it's better to find an overall setting for the capture . One capture should have about the same caracteristics ( same recording environnement) i rather have a little noise left and keep everything smooth

i know i should start with the black and white levels and move my way up to color balance etc etc ..

One capture should have about the same caracteristics ( same recording environnement)

Not entirely true. The capture might have similar characteristics, but the content might be entirely different. Just think if you capture a movie broadcasted on TV, a night scene will be entirely different than a daylit scene . The black level for a capture is usually the same, but the highlights/superwhite level can vary a lot

Levels is the easiest thing to screw up and the most dangerous, especially in hardware. Hard blow outs mean that information is gone, permanently. Not recoverable in software or any method, unless you capture it properly. If you capture and the levels are ok, then you can make fine adjustments in software, but this will vary by scene

I would reduce both settings for RemoveDirtMC and LSFMod if you want less "plastiky" look. It's entirely possible these are the wrong filters to use for this example.

Capture in avi lossless man it's much better, it's a bit for bit copy you'll have, you can easily manipulate it in software after.If you want a good encoding i suggest you forget mpeg2 forever and have a look at x264.

Best pro mpeg2 encoders will not be even close to x264 results, always blocking somewhere.
I found good x264 settings recently for vhs back up if you're interested